Eyes of a SOLDIER
by KissofJudas
Summary: -NOT CANON- Elena is a 2nd Class SOLDIER with eyes to be a Turk. But she's got a long way to go, and so much more happened in the years before Meteor struck. Based on a Twitter RP, critique discouraged.
1. Chapter 1

Again, this is another story that grew out of a Twitter roleplay. The program referred in here as Shinra Chatter is based on Twitter - all of the names used are the Twitter accounts we use to portray the characters on there. Follow if you'd care to. :) As such, this is EXCEEDINGLY non-canon. I have no idea when this would supposedly take place in game world. As such, please take any inaccuracies in stride. We acknowledge that there are major flaws with the storyline - this is just for fun, and I write it as a story so that one of our players gets to see what's going on when it doesn't necessarily show up on Twitter. Therefore, you can guess that critique on this piece is essentially wasted typing time. *big smile* Thank you.

* * *

Every SOLDIER's aim, in the end, was to be 1st Class. The 1st Class SOLDIERs were the top of the top, the best of the best – at least, the best you could get without being a Turk, and most SOLDIERs had no real aspirations of being a Turk. The training was too difficult, the standards were too high, and the extra money in the paycheck just didn't quite make up for the things you'd be asked to do.

So a chance to do anything with the current 1st Class SOLDIERs – especially the three best – was reason for some excitement. And even though I desperately wanted to be a Turk some day, it was still really exciting for me.

"Did you hear what they're saying?" one of the 3rd Class boys – whose name was something stupid and common like John or James – hissed from the head of the barracks hallway as I walked out.

"Nothing that you're going to be in, kid," I heard from behind me. Charlotte, my team leader, best friend and roommate had stepped up behind me to join the conversation with a smirk. "Only the 2nd Classes get to run in the drills today. You really think that they'd let Thirds have anything to do with this?"

John-or-James didn't have a good response. While he sputtered, I looked over my shoulder at Charlotte. "Did we hear what we get to do yet?"

Char shook her head. "They haven't made the official announcement. I'm guessing Director Lazard will come in during breakfast or something and tell us. Think it'll be something dumb like last year, when all us Seconds and Thirds had to run our asses off and then whoever won got to miss training for a day?"

"That wasn't dumb!" John-or-James said from the end of the hallway. "Man, I wanted that so bad."

"Jim, any halfway intelligent SOLDER knows that you can't take a day off training, no matter how good you are," Charlotte shot back, throwing a pencil down the hall at him. _Answered what his name was, though._ "It's a stupid gift and Lazard knew it. It was a test. Shows how you're still a Third after all this time."

"I was sick on the day we went to the range," he whined. "It's not my fault I sneezed."

Another boy, a 2nd Class I was pretty sure was named Mirik, came up and clapped James on the back. "Yeah, and nearly shot Hewley's face off. He was gonna have you running wind sprints for a week." James paled and Mirik just shot a grin to Charlotte and me. "Morning, ladies."

"Morning, Mirik," I said with a small wave and smile.

"Quit being a schmooze, Mirik," Char responded, sticking her tongue out at him.

Unfazed, Mirik just winked back. "Some day you will regret not being madly in love with me, Charlotte. Come on, Jim. Let's leave the girls to their own devices and wait for them to come running after us."

I walked out of the room and turned around to face Char as Mirik and Jim walked away. "You really think it's going to be something like last year?"

"Don't know, Laney. Let's go find out."

It wasn't until the end of breakfast that the bombshell came. As soon as Director Lazard entered the room, the entire mess hall went silent. Even the 3rd Class SOLDIERs were waiting with baited breath.

"I understand that rumours travel fast in the Shinra building," the Director started, "and so I am sure that you all know that the 2nd Class SOLDIER drills today will not be ordinary drills. You will be broken up into ten groups for the drills, and will run in circuits that way. At the end, the top member of each group will be chosen to participate in the 1st Class ten-mile run challenge."

Immediately the room was full of chatter. The ten-mile challenge was famous for being the one piece of SOLDIER training that people had the hardest time with – and you always had to run it on your own, without any basis for how fast you were going. Being able to run it before your test with the 1st Class SOLDIERs was beyond anything anyone would have expected.

Charlotte looked at me with wide eyes. "Laney, we've got to win that. I cannot pass up the opportunity to run with the Firsts, holy shit."

"That would be brilliant." The Director was still talking, and I was still looking at him, but even if I'd been able to hear over the other SOLDIERs, I wouldn't have made sense of the words. A chance to run with the Firsts. I'd already passed the gun certification for 1st Class – a chance to see how I'd do on one of the hardest pieces of the 1st Class certification would certainly put me at an advantage. And if I won, and I did well at the run, and someone like Tseng from the Turks saw me...

Ooh, couldn't think about that. I'd be daydreaming about Tseng all day.

Char nudged me, and I snapped out of whatever reverie I'd sunk myself into to see that everyone was leaving. I grabbed my tray and we headed out. I'd recently gotten linked into this website that the company was using to keep all the employees in contact with each other and whatnot. It had turned into a big social clusterfuck (pardon my language) in the end, but it was fun enough to see what everyone put up there. I opened my phone's client and sent a blurb out into the void.

_Headed in for drills in a bit. Anyone who does well gets to run with the 1st Classes later on. I'm so psyched - I have to do well!_

"Are you on that Shinra Chatter thing again?" Charlotte said, peering over my shoulder. "God, that's such a waste of time."

"Well sure, but come on. General Sephiroth is on there, and it's hysterical," I said with a grin, waving my phone a bit. "Him and his crew – Generals Hewley and Rhapsodos – they're all on there, and a bunch of the Turks, and the Vice President..."

"Normal people just talk to others," Charlotte shot back, but she was smiling even through her mock irritation. "Anything of interest being said?"

I shrugged. "I'll check it later. Nothing recent. Just Tseng and the VP's secretary talking about Wutai, and the VP talking about how he gets to leave late for work." I stuck out my tongue.

"See, told you. Nothing but mindlessness." About halfway back to the barracks, my phone buzzed. I'd set up my phone so that if any of the 1st Class SOLDIERs, any of the Turks, or the Vice President sent a piece of Chatter, I'd get a text – and it already texted me if anyone chattered at me.

When I opened my phone, however, I saw something I wasn't expecting in the least.

_LovelessfanGR: littleblondfire let's hope you do well._

That was General Rhapsodos. Genesis Rhapsodos, 1st Class SOLDIER, brilliant swordsman, and all around heartthrob of the entire company. I hadn't met a girl in SOLDIER that hadn't daydreamed at least once about him; even Charlotte had admitted that he was hot. And here I was, with one of my all time crushes chatting to me. Wishing me luck.

Hell, _any_ 1st Class that wanted to wish me luck was more than welcome, but _Genesis?_

I quickly responded. _LovelessfanGR eeeeee Thank you so much, sir! I'll be working my hardest :)_

I couldn't keep the excitement from my voice, even in text. I'm sure he'd understand; after all, being allowed to compete for a spot in the run was exciting enough on its own.

"What's up?" Charlotte asked, having noted my wide-eyed staring at my phone.

I looked up. "General Rhapsodos just chattered at me."

"That is the dumbest turn of phrase I have ever heard."

"Well, call it something else then."

"I will. There's a chocobo on the icon, isn't there? I'm calling it 'warking'."

I blinked. "And that's better than chattering how?"

"Because it has to do with a chocobo. What did the General say?"

The smile crept onto my face before I could even speak a word. "He wished me luck in the trials today." My phone buzzed again and I glanced down. There was a new text message from Chatter: _LovelessfanGR: littleblondfire if you do well enough maybe you can run by my side. I do like a good running partner._

My eyes must have gotten wide as saucers, because Charlotte just laughed at me. "What?"

"I thanked him, and he just sent me something back saying that if I do well, maybe during the run he'll let me run along with him." My mind flitted off into a brief fantasy, of me standing here in the barracks hallway for my class, reading texts as somewhere else in the building, Genesis sat with his phone, staring at the screen waiting for me to respond...

Charlotte pushing me brought me back again to the land of the currently truthful and I just grinned at her frustrated look. "Come on, Juliet – we've got to get changed and head down to the drills. We've still got to get warmed up."


	2. Chapter 2

I posted on Chatter a bit before the drills themselves, commenting on the fact that the results weren't getting posted until Wednesday, and that I was trying my hardest – lots of little stuff like that. But it wasn't until we got a break when Mike Matthews, a jerk of a 2nd Class actually passed out during one of the drills, that I got a chance to look at the thread again. I'd posted something saying that we were on a break because someone had collapsed and that we'd start up again in half an hour.

In the thread, it was the usual bits of interest: the vice president was going to come watch but we were on lunch when he looked, General Hewley was offering advice to stay confident and that was what counted in the end, and General Sephiroth apparently had picked favorite from the crew, as had General Rhapsodos. But what really caught my eyes was what the latter had posted on his own.

_LovelessfanGR: Shall we sweeten the pot and offer that the first classes will wear their third class uniforms during the run?_

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Where had all of this suddenly come from? In the three years that I'd been in SOLDIER, the higher classes had never shown this much interest in what we did. I wasn't going to complain...but it just struck me as odd.

I shot back a quick chat to the General. _Littleblondfire: LovelessfanGR ! Really? Man, I'll tell the others! You guys are really doing a lot for this for us. :)_

"Elena! Back to the drills!" I heard Charlotte call.

_Littleblondfire: Whoops, we're back on! Only about another hour or two of tests... Wish me luck!_

It took longer than an hour, much to my dismay – Kirrin Stevens and Michaels got into a fight over who had won a dash, and then Angelo Danvers got a hold of a picture of the 1st Class generals wearing their 3rd Class uniforms – which really didn't fit anymore, and he'd projected them from his phone. From what I saw on Chatter, Generals Sephiroth and Hewley were really angry – leave it to Rhapsodos to push a joke too far, I guess.

It had to be at least two hours or so until we finally finished, and the lot of us sat back in the locker room, showering down and waiting. Charlotte, blessed with a short head of hair, was already showered and dressed, leaning against the wall next to the showers. "So how you think you did, Elena?" she called in to me.

"I think I did well enough – you're squad leader; you tell me. How do you think I did?"

I heard her laugh. "I wasn't paying attention to you, to be honest, Laney. Hard to watch any of the other groups. I'm kinda mad we didn't get to do them by squad."

I let the water hit my face, trying to wake myself back up. "If they did it by squad, it wouldn't be fair. We're in squad by ability – we'd all be in a group together and only one of us would get the chance."

"Sounds fair enough to the rest of us," I hear Mirik's voice from the boys' showers pipe up.

Charlotte just laughed. "Yeah, you would have liked that, wouldn't you, Mirik? You're just hoping I'll beat you."

"Mmm, don't know about that, Charlotte. I've never been much of a hitting kind. Maybe lined handcuffs, a silk scarf or two, but not hitting."

I smirked as I heard Charlotte gag. "We're never speaking again, just so you know. Come on, Laney – aren't you done yet? I need to get away before Mirik actually tries something."

"I've got more hair than you, Char – give me a minute." I hurried my way through the rest of my shower and switched off the water, pulling my hair back into a ponytail and toweling off best I could before pulling on the spare outfit I'd brought with me and walking out. Slowly the rest of the SOLDIERs filed out and we all headed down in a pack to the main lobby, where the lists were supposed to be posted. We'd barely gotten into the room when I saw the rest of the team all crowded around the bulletin board.

Charlotte just laughed. "Let's start swimming. Maybe we'll make it up there by tomorrow."

Of course, with Charlotte's loud mouth and reputation for being a bit of a ball-breaker, we made it up there faster than most. I could hear the murmurs of most of the SOLDIERs walking away disappointed; that was almost to be expected. We had split into ten groups, and each group was getting one person picked from all of them to participate in the run. Ten people got that chance.

The odds for all of us were slim.

Once up there, I started scanning groups. Group 1- Bannon Michaelis. Not surprising; he was a fine SOLDIER, and was in General Sephiroth's group of squads. All of the 1st Class SOLDIERs had a crew of 2nd Class squads that reported back to them. Mine – well, Charlotte's, because she was the squad leader – reported to General Hewley. While he was considered the least difficult of the top three (Hewley, Rhapsodos, and Sephiroth), I'd never considered him anything but fair and tough.

As I continued scanning, the names seemed to all be popping up from General Sephiroth's teams. Best of the best raises up the best. Nori Takahashi, Ryou Matsuo, Alex Brancato, Ari Kincaid... all Sephiroth's men and women. But then one struck me. _Mirik Vossler._ "Oh my god, Mirik made the run," I murmured under my breath.

"Seriously?" Charlotte said just as I felt Mirik's hand on my shoulder, leaning me down so he could see himself. The grin that I could just barely see crawling across his lips was almost too much for Char to handle. "Gods save us from him now."

"Ah, there'll be no living with me now," he said, letting me back up and striding off, humming to himself.

In the next split second, Charlotte and I pointed to the board, at different places, and said in complete unison: "Hey – look!" Looking where she'd pointed, my eyes widened. _Group 9 – Elena Simms._

"Oh my god," I said under my breath.

Charlotte just grinned. "No shit we both made it. Awesome work."

"Charlotte – I was fourth!" I'd started looking at the numbers more in depth, and had noticed each of us had a number next to our name, which correlated to a list that was hanging next to the groupings. "Out of all the Seconds, I was _fourth_!" If I thought my eyes couldn't get any wider, they betrayed me when I saw the number next to Charlotte. "You're _first!_"

"Yeah, what can I say." She mock-buffed her fingernails, then pulled me in with an arm across my shoulders. "We're awesome, Elena. C'mon."

_Littleblondfire: __OMG OMG OMG OMG I MADE IT! I made top in my bracket, and 4th overall! OUT OF ALL THE 2ND CLASS SOLDIERS! EEEEE 3 3 3 3 3_

We'd barely made it to the stairs when my cell phone vibrated with a new message from Chatter. If my mind wasn't already disintegrating from the massive overload that was today already, this sent me completely over the edge: a message directly from Rufus Shinra.

_princeofShinra: Haha, congratulations, Elena. Stay by the boards; I'll come down and congratulate you all._

It was almost too much for me. I grinned over at Charlotte. "Wait – we gotta wait down here for the VP to come down. He's going to congratulate all of us." Her expression was just the icing on the cake. "We've GOT to go out drinking tonight."

_littleblondfire: princeofShinra Eeeeeee of course sir, thank you so much :) :) :)_

_littleblondfire: An official "congratulations" from the VP himself and the chance to run with the 1st Classes on Wednesday... What a great day. :D_


	3. Chapter 3

That night was a wild one. Charlotte had decided that the ten of us that had qualified for the run had to go out to celebrate – and I'd invited along Kula Diamond, the vice president's new secretary. I'd run bodyguard duty for her when one of the Turks had gotten kidnapped, and she'd seemed so shy and secluded that I had to try and include her. We'd all woken up with massive hangovers – Kula even commented that she wasn't sure how she'd even gotten home – but it was worth it. This was the biggest thing that had happened to most of us in an exceedingly long time.

I was with Charlotte down in the mess hall after breakfast when all of a sudden a book appeared in my line of vision. "Um, hi – generally people start conversations with words, Thirdie," Charlotte said, eyebrow raised.

I looked over my shoulder to see a 3rd Class SOLDIER standing behind me, holding the book in front of my face. He looked familiar, but I couldn't say as I really knew who he was. "What's that?"

"It's a play – I really think you should read it," he said. "And sorry – my name's Zack, Zack Fair. I'm a 3rd Class – but you probably knew that."

I turned back to peer at the book – it was in fact a play, and one I'd even heard of. "LOVELESS?" I took the book from Zack. "Why do you want me to read this?"

Zack put his hands behind his head. "Trust me – I just think it's a good idea. It's a quick read; maybe you could even get it done before the run on Wednesday."

Charlotte chuckled. "What, you think they're going to quiz her on some play? What's the rush, Fair?"

The SOLDIER put up his hands, a smile betraying his defensive pose. "Hey, I'm not saying there's a rush. Just a bit of friendly advice from one SOLDIER to another. You should really read the play."

He shot me a salute and started to jog away. "Hey!" I called back at him, and he turned to look. "Do you want the book back by some point?"

He shook his head and waved it off. "Keep it – I've read it. Besides, you'll probably like it more than I did." With that, he was off and running.

I just shook my head, staring at the play in confusion. "Why in the world would someone just hand me a play and tell me to read it?"

Char shrugged. "Well, I know Rhapsodos is a fan of the play; I mean, it even says so in his name on that Chatter thing. But I don't see why it should matter if you've read it."

That piqued my curiosity. That was true – not only was his name "Lovelessfan" on Chatter, but I'd heard tales that he knew the play almost completely by heart. I'd never really been one to read drama, but maybe LOVELESS was worth a shot. If nothing else, it might win me a few points with General Rhapsodos. "Don't know. Suppose it won't hurt, though. I've been meaning to read it for a while – I keep seeing the posters on the street, and wondering." I gestured out the window; there was a street up on the plate named for the play, and it was almost impossible to miss.

"Suppose not."

It was hours later before I even realized that I'd been reading for that long. The book Zack had given me was an annotated copy of the play, so in the margins were little notes explaining differences between this copy of the play and other translated versions – and it seemed to be referencing some other base piece of literature, but I couldn't figure out what. Each of the acts were summarized at the beginning, and they were almost as moving as the play itself. I'd had to fight not to quote each little piece on Chatter.

"He begins a life of seclusion with her, which seems to hold the promise of eternal bliss – but as happiness grows, so does guilt..." I quoted under my breath, my fingers typing the words as I spoke them. The story was tragic, romantic...everything good romantic movies had in them. How had this slipped between my fingers for so long?

_littleblondfire: I can't believe I've never read this before. It's so cool!_

Charlotte had long given up on hanging around with me; several failed attempts at conversation had proven that I was lost to the play. A few lines later, my computer dinged, my Chatter notification.

_LovelessfanGR: Are you by any chance reading Loveless?_

I had to grin. Leave it to the fan to find me out.

_littleblondfire: I am, actually! __It got recommended to me, and I'd always wanted to see the play but never had a chance. I really like it!_

If he messaged me back after that, I missed it – as the play began to come to a conclusion, I couldn't have torn myself away from the pages if the building had collapsed. I finally finished with tears in my eyes – such a sap, but I was a sucker for a romantic ending and LOVELESS had certainly delivered.

My stomach gave a dramatic rumble and I looked up at the clock. While I had lost track of time, my appetite hadn't; it was almost two o'clock, and I'd missed the lunch serving in the mess hall. _Whoops – missed lunch because I was reading. Wonder where I can round some up... _I tapped out on the computer and began hunting around my room. It was technically against protocol to keep food in your room, but every SOLDIER I knew had a secret stash somewhere – hell, some even had mini refrigerators hidden in their closets. Now it was just a matter of finding something in either Charlotte's stash or my own that would suffice for lunch.

I'd found a granola bar and was trying to fish it out from where it was hiding when I heard my computer ding again. Sighing, I got up, leaving the granola bar where it was. I would return to do battle with it later, if I had to.

_LovelessfanGR: if you would like I brought more than enough for myself. I would be willing to share._

I blinked a few times. General Rhapsodos was offering my part of his lunch? Suddenly I felt a twinge of guilt; what kind of a desperate mooch did I look like, complaining on Chatter that I didn't have lunch? He must have pitied the poor stupid SOLDIER. But still, it was nice of him to offer.

_littleblondfire: LovelessfanGR: ...Really? That – that would be wonderful, sir. Thank you so much; I don't mean to be a mooch._

It wasn't long before I got a response. "_littleblondfire: completely fine. Swing to the mess hall and if you would like, bring your copy of Loveless_".

I grinned. I didn't know where it would get me, but I was ready to go find that black-haired SOLDIER and kiss him. Not only had he gotten me something in common with the General – he'd even possibly won me lunch.


	4. Chapter 4

I'd gotten delayed time and time again on my way down to the mess hall, so by the time I finally walked through the doors it was almost dinner – but General Rhapsodos didn't seem to mind. When I walked in, he was still seated at a table, a book I'd often seen him carrying open in front of him. My entrance caught his attention and he looked up, giving me a small smile. "Ah, Cadet Simms. So good of you to join me."

"I'm sorry I'm so late, General – I got-"

He cut my explanation off short with a wave of his hand. "Distractions and delays are inevitable. The food is served cold under normal circumstances – no harm, no foul." He smiled again and gestured to the chair across from him. "Take a seat. How far into the play are you?"

Over a chicken dish that I'd never had before but was willing to take a chance on eating – and was glad I did – we discussed LOVELESS, both in play and poem format. He seemed interested in the annotated copy that Fair had given me, but had given me a copy of the play in a translation he preferred. I'd thought at first that he was just loaning it to me, since it was a hardback book and in pristine condition, but he'd waved it off. "I assure you," he'd said, "that is not my only copy, and I would rather it go to good use in the hands of someone that deserves it."

"I...well, thank you, General." He had nodded and we'd finished the meal.

_littleblondfire: omg so maybe that was dinner instead of lunch, but Genesis had awesome food and brilliant conversation. :) he knows so much about Loveless!_

It hadn't occurred to me until later that perhaps I shouldn't go around calling the generals by their first names, but he hadn't said anything and I just considered myself lucky. I sent something out about how excited I was for the run tomorrow, and then laid in my bed. Charlotte and I had bunk beds, for better or worse, and I was on the top bunk. I stretched out my arms, brushing my fingertips against the ceiling.

"So how was _your_ day?" Charlotte asked me, and I could hear the smirk on her lips. Somehow she'd found out I had been with General Rhapsodos.

"Oh, fine," I replied, trying to sound nonchalant.

Her face appeared at my side as she popped up on her mattress to hang on the sidebar of my bunk and look at me. "Uh-uh, that's not flying, missie. I heard on good authority that you had lunch with Rhapsodos. What's the scoop?"

"No scoop." A smile found its way to my lips despite myself. "I was reading that play Fair gave me, lost track of time, and missed lunch. The general asked if I wanted to share his."

"Sharing his lunch, hm? Is that what the romantic calls it?" I swatted at her and she jumped down to the floor with a laugh. The romantic, the white knight, and the dark avenger – those were Charlotte's names for the three generals. She had stories to go with each of them as well, but for the most part they were self-explanatory. Genesis was the romantic, Angeal the white knight, and Sephiroth the dark avenger.

"No, that's what he called letting me eat some of his chicken."

"It's not nice to call it a chicken, Elena – I'm sure you'd hurt his feelings." She could barely keep her voice straight, so I opted to ignore her, a smile on my face as well. Regardless of what had actually happened, her words shot straight into my daydreams. General Rhapsodos was well out of my league, but where would the world be without fantasy, hm? I could almost hear his voice, softly whispering in my ear words from the play we'd just discussed. "_Your desire is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess..._" His arms snaking around my waist, lips brushing my neck...

"Helloo – Gaia to Elena!" Char's voice suddenly snapped me back into the here and now. She grinned, now back next to me, waving a hand in my face. "Wake up time."

"Sorry, what?"

Charlotte shook her head. "I asked you if you thought you were ready for the run tomorrow. Everyone seems pretty psyched about it; it's all Vossler's talking about." She pulled a face. "I swear, that kid gets more and more obnoxious every time he breathes."

I smirked. No matter how commonly they fought, the dynamic between Mirik and Charlotte never ceased to amuse me. One of these days they'd probably end up dating. I'm not sure anyone would be shocked – except maybe them. But right – I'd been asked a question. "Yeah, I think I'm ready for the run. I mean, as ready as I'm going to be. There's really no way to practice for it, hm?"

"I guess running might be helpful." I stuck out my tongue at Char as I swung my pillow at her. She ducked, letting the pillow sweep over her head. "I know what you mean, though. Treadmill isn't the same as outside, and access to the track is restricted to Firsts only." She shook her head. "Well, at least you don't want to be a First, right?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I wasn't offended by the comment, just confused at her apparent non-sequitur. "There's a running requirement for the Turk certification, too."

"Is it a time-restricted ten to fifteen mile long run?" she said, crossing her arms and then holding herself up by my bunk with her elbows.

"Um...no, I don't think so."

"Are the Turks going to be watching you like hawks, staring you down and seeing if they should even waste their time with you if you can't complete this part of the certification?"

"I'm assuming someone will be watching, but it's -"

"Exactly – this isn't part of your cert, Elena. They'll be watching for potential. I'm running for my chance at First." She tilted her head, flicking her hair out of her eyes. "If I can't prove that either I can do it, or I'm damn close, no one's gonna think of me as a potential."

I gave me a small smile. "Do you really expect to not be put on the list of potential First Classes?"

That got a cocky smirk – the one I was used to from her – at long last. "Well no, of course not. I'm gonna ace this fuckin' thing. I'm just saying."

I laughed. "Go to sleep, Charlotte. We both need sleep for this run."

But I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep. Too much had happened today, and far too much was going to happen tomorrow.

I was going to run along with General Rhapsodos.

Absolutely surreal.


	5. Chapter 5

_littleblondfire: I could barely sleep, but I'm not tired at all. We're called in at 9, and then the run is at noon. We're all so excited! :)_

Even with everything else, it was so surreal to me that I'd actually done this well in the drills and was being allowed to run with the Firsts. By eight-thirty, Charlotte and I had made our way down to the warmup area outside the locker room and were stretching out. I was fairly sure that we'd all be doing something to warm up together, but far be it from me to question my squad captain on what she wanted to do.

Not too long after, Mirik showed up, already dressed in the standard SOLDIER workout attire. "Morning Elena, Charlotte."

Charlotte ignored him, so I gave him a small smile and wave. "Morning, Mirik. Ready for the run?"

"I was about to ask the same thing," he said with a grin, walking up and putting an arm around my shoulders. "Yeah, I'm psyched for it. What about you?"

"It should be fun. I don't know how well I'll do, but I'm going to give it my best shot." That got a smile from Mirik. "What about you, Char?" I asked.

Charlotte shrugged from her seat on the floor. "I'm gonna try to keep up with Sephiroth. All there is to it."

Mirik snickered a little, letting go of me so that he could drop into a crouch and try to catch Char's eye. "Keep up with the Great General? Are you insane, Dempsey? No one can keep up with him."

"Well I'm going to try, Vossler," she shot back, glaring at him through her hair. "I'd like to see you try."

Mirik straightened up and shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "No can do. I'm not a distance runner and the admin all know it. If I can just complete the run in the fifteen minutes, that'll be impressive enough. Besides, I don't really care if I make it to First or not."

That was a reaction I simply didn't understand. "Why not shoot for the best, Mirik?" I asked, shaking my head a little. "I'm sure you'd pass the certs if you tried."

"Nah, I'm no good with a weapon," was his sunny response. "And besides, there's only ten slots. I know at least fifteen people that are better than me in the SOLDIER recruits, and I don't feel like being put on a six-hundred person waiting list. Do the best I can do in Second Class and stay there. It's really no big deal."

"So you give up," Char commented, standing up and brushing off her pant legs. "Way to be, Vossler. Way to be."

"Hey now, there is nothing giving up about this," he retorted, crossing his arms. "Plenty of SOLDIERs stay where they are, and it has nothing to do with giving up."

"Uh huh, keep telling yourself that." Char ruffled her own hair and looked like she was going to continue, but the rest of the SOLDIERs began filing in about then and she just smirked. "Getting off easy this time, Vossler. Let's drop the chit chat and get ready, hm?"

"Sure thing, sure thing." The three of us joined the rest of the group, but it was obvious that no one was completely focused on the task at hand. We were all warming up but the chatter just couldn't stop. I can't say as I blame any of them; I was just as bad, talking to Nori, one of the few cadets from Sephiroth's teams that made the cut. Most of Sephiroth's team members didn't care if they made it or not and thus conceded their positions, but a few stayed in it – and inevitably made it in.

"Have you made the run before, Nori?" I asked. Nori was a quiet Wutain girl, and didn't speak the best Midgarian out of all of us. I'd tried to make a point of talking to her whenever I could – though I'd have to concede that it wasn't often. Sephiroth's teams kept to themselves.

"Yes... I run many time with General," she responded, giving me a smile. "Always nervous, though."

"Why?" That got a grin back from me. "You train with him every day, and you've run this race along with him."

Nori shook her head. "No – never along. He too fast. Run far ahead."

I giggled. "You know what I mean."

That got her to think, though. "I still nervous...because of him. His focus. Mother and father, very focused. General, very focused. I try to be focused. He watch very much."

"So no matter what, you're still under the hawk's gaze," I murmured.

"Yes. Always watched. But, I am good fighter. Getting strong. I become First someday. I know it." She beamed at me, and it was infectious. "What about you? You training to be First Class?"

"No, I'm trying to become a Turk," I replied, glancing up at the ceiling a bit bashfully. "But the run's good training either way."

Nori looks thrilled. "Yes, very good training! You make good Turk. I see you shoot, very very good."

I grinned. "Well, thanks, Nori." We chatted a bit more until finally General Hewley's voice rang out from over all of ours.

"All right, cadets! First of all, congratulations to you all for making it this far." Angeal smiled at us all, clearly trying to lighten the mood – but when all of us were this nervous, it fell a bit flat. "I would like to emphasize that while I know many of you are focused on the fact that this particular run is often used at a piece of your First Class certification, the judges are not here today. This is simply a gift from our great company, a chance to try your hand at it before there are repercussions. So have fun! Don't feel like you have to perform your absolute best today."

"Yeah, as if anyone's going to think that they're _not_ watching us," Char muttered under her breath.

"Do what you can, and take the opportunity to get a feel for where you are, and where you'd like to be when you take your evaluations this summer. We'll head out to the track momentarily."

After a few moments of hectic yammering, we all headed out to the track. Here was my slight moment of panic. General Rhapsodos – Genesis – whatever I was supposed to call him – had told me that I could run alongside him. But...did he mean it? Was he going to change his mind? My head began to spin just a little as I looked around, squinting in the sun to try and find him.

And find him I did. I hadn't noticed when Angeal came out, but I could see clearly with Genesis – the three Generals had opted to wear their old Third Class uniforms. As it had been some years since any of them had been Thirds, their uniforms didn't...quite...fit the way they expected.

I just giggled and jogged over to Genesis, who gave me his classic knock-you-off-your-feet grin. "Morning, Cadet."

"Morning, General. Nice...ah, nice combination you have going on there."

Genesis barked out a laugh and looked down at his clothing. "Ah yes well, I think it sets off the color of my eyes rather well, don't you?"

I couldn't stop grinning. "Definitely, sir."

"Now, whatever you do, don't try to keep up with Sephiroth," Genesis warned, gesturing over to the tallest General, who looked less than thrilled to be in ill-fitting attire. "He's going to outrun us all, and you'll just make yourself sick trying. I expect a few to, but I'm certainly not going to."

I nodded. "Right. No keeping up with the Great General."

Genesis smirked. "Angeal will undoubtedly hang back with the rest of the pack, acting as the rallying force of SOLDIER that he usually is. Which leaves me." His grin widened. "I don't intend to tag back if you're not willing to give this your all."

I was determined. "I'm not going to let you down, sir. I'm going to give it my very best shot."

"Good. Then I won't hold back." We got ready – and with a crack of the gun, the run began.


End file.
